


The Merchant and the Monstress

by AccioInvisibilityCloak



Category: Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab
Genre: A Gathering of Shadows AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexual Delilah Bard, F/F, Femslash February, Femslash February 2018, Lesbian Calla
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-03-14 10:59:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13588659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AccioInvisibilityCloak/pseuds/AccioInvisibilityCloak
Summary: Calla looked up at her, smiling softly, and Lila was visited by the same urge she’d felt on their date, when Calla’s mouth looked so inviting, sugary sweet and warm. She wanted to kiss this woman.This time, incredibly, stupidly, Lila didn’t stop herself.A Gathering of Shadows, except Lila finds herself falling for Calla instead of Kell.





	The Merchant and the Monstress

*******

            Delilah Bard didn’t understand her heart. How could emotion and desire possibly be split this many ways?

On the other hand, it wasn’t long ago that she would have scoffed at the idea of parallel Londons, four versions of one city stacked side by side. If those could exist, who was to say a heart couldn’t have parallel desires?

The serious, sighing, black-eyed prince, who she couldn’t remember without smiling. And the soft, round woman, several years her senior, comforting and thoughtful, who had given Lila her identity, who had helped her become the Sarows. Who had helped her feel at home in a new world.

Kell and Calla. Two different people, dear to her in different ways, and Lila’s heart quickened just the same at the thought of each of them. It was confusing, yes- but the world was confusing. And big, and pulsing with life and magic, just waiting for her to discover it.

Lila grinned to herself. She was going back to the Night Market tomorrow.

*******

             Calla was delighted to see her, as always. “But Leelah,” she said, in her thick Arnesian accent. “I have not finished your mask yet. Will you wait another day?”

“Of course,” said Lila. “Silly, I haven’t come for the mask. I wanted to see you again. I missed you.”

“You did not miss Master Kell? He was here, you know, just after you left last time.” Calla smiled knowingly.

Lila blushed. “If I wanted to see Kell, I would be breaking into the palace right now. As you see, I am not. Besides, I have a debt to repay.”

“But you already-”

“Not the clothes,” Lila murmured, drawing closer to the other woman. “Your kindness. Why are you so good to me, Calla?”

“Do not forget, you serve my prince. It is my duty.”

 “…Oh.” Something in Lila deflated at this. Calla smiled, taking her hand.

“I am teasing you. It’s nothing to do with Master Kell, not anymore. I am fond of you, Girl in the Mask. You intrigue me.”

Lila blushed. “I’m fond of you, too. Would you… want to explore the city with me?”

“I am working, dear,” Calla said, but a _yes_ glittered in her eyes.

“I’m a thief, my lady. Tonight, I want to steal your time.” _And something else, perhaps…_

*******

         The date stayed on Lila’s mind even after she left Calla at the clothing stall at the end of the night. As she drank with Alucard and the crew the next day, she was consumed with Calla’s laugh, her smile. The way the shorter woman felt in her arms, curvy and soft and beautiful, as she twirled her around the empty floor of the music stall. Lila could still taste the lacy pastry they shared, feel the sugar crystals on her tongue, as sweet as Calla’s hand in hers.

It scared her, wanting someone this much.

Maybe that was why she tore her focus away to the magic thrumming against her senses, the stadiums glittering above the river, the need to prove herself. The need to release something of the power and emotion caught under her skin. When Stasion Elsor slipped away from the bar, Delilah Bard grinned and follows after him.

Alucard’s anger was nothing to her. The real Elsor’s fate was little more than a passing concern. What mattered was that she, Lila Bard, was going to compete in the _Essen Tasch_. And she was going to win. All she needed now was a mask.

Lila was confident, unflappable, striding through the Night Market yet again, this time as Elsor. Every time she heard the name whispered in her wake, she knew the illusion was strengthening. She fooled everyone.

Everyone, except for Calla.

                It was with relief that Lila realized she hadn’t thought of Calla in days. Her heart wouldn’t entrap her here- she had an out. Even if there was a part of her that wanted to stay, she wouldn’t be able to. Still, her treacherous heart leapt when the seamstress recognized her on sight and smiled.

“Leela, you’re early,” she said, without missing a beat. She knew her.

The way Calla _tsk tsk_ ed at Lila’s new hair irked Lila more than she could say. _You’re gay,_ she wanted to scream. _Why on Earth do you still care so much about gender conformity?_

“You have beautiful hair, my dear,” Calla said. “I will miss it the way it was, I must admit.”

“I wanted a change,” Lila said simply.

Calla didn’t answer, just disappeared behind a curtain. A moment later, she returned with a box.

                The mask was perfect, the leather Sarows face transformed by a casing of black metal, a demon head with elegant horns curling back instead of upwards. The bottom of the mask now dipped lower at the sides, following the lines of Lila’s jaw. Sliding the mask on, she marveled at its beauty- and then Calla fixed on the neck plate, clasping it around Lila’s throat and attaching it to the mask, where it hinged like the monster’s jaw.

Lila looked out from within the demon’s head and grinned, teeth gleaming.

“Calla, you are brilliant,” she whispered, in awe.

“ _Anesh_ ,” said Calla, and shrugged, but Lila could tell she was proud.

Calla looked up at her, smiling softly, and Lila was visited by the same urge she’d felt on their date, when Calla’s mouth looked so inviting, sugary sweet and warm. She wanted to kiss this woman.

This time, incredibly, stupidly, Lila didn’t stop herself.

She raised the mask so that it rested like a crown on her head. Then, she leaned down, taking Calla’s chin in her hand, and Calla leaned in to meet her in a fiery kiss. Lila took the other woman’s lower lip between her teeth, a bit of pressure eliciting a delicious sigh from Calla. They kissed with everything they had, like was the last time, and it was strange and dangerous and wonderful.

In the shadows of the clothing stall, the merchant and the monstress embraced, until, out in the street, the bells began to toll.

*******

**Author's Note:**

> Some of the descriptions in this fic are borrowed/adapted from page 302-303 of A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab. I don't own them. Also, I didn't make up the word "monstress", I learned it from the Monstress graphic novel series. Credit to Marjorie Liu for that.
> 
> Comments are appreciated, but please don't spoil A Conjuring of Light for me- I haven't read it yet! :)


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